Mumbai's St. Xavier’s College cancels Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture after ABVP protest

Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College cancelled its fourth annual Stan Swamy Memorial Lecture, scheduled for Aug 9, after receiving a letter from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student group affiliated with the RSS, expressing objections to the event’s association with Father Stan Swamy.

The virtual lecture, titled “Migration for Livelihood: Hope Amidst Miseries,” was slated to be delivered by Fr. Prem Xalxo, associate lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, organized by the Department of Inter-Religious Studies to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

The ABVP's objection was not to the lecture’s content, but to its naming. In its letter, the group said honoring Stan Swamy, who had been accused in the Elgar Parishad–Bhima Koregaon case and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), “glorifies” an individual linked to anti-national activities.

They warned of conducting student protests and filing petitions with regulatory bodies if the lecture went ahead.

St. Xavier’s rector, Fr. Keith D’Souza, responded by invoking the Indian legal principle—with emphasis—that a person is “innocent unless proven guilty.”

He explained that the lecture series, while focused on indigenous issues like migration, became controversial due to the memorial’s namesake, prompting the college to withdraw it to avoid distractions and unrest.